= Wands High =

Chapter 51 - 23 May 1998, Saturday

- Ty!

In a blink of an eye Zadie jumped over the bench and kneeled to the fallen boy, followed by Aaron and Chris jumping on their feet and standing by him, one on each side, ready for anything. Another moment and the other four were also up, eyes shooting around the tavern.

- Ty? Ty, can you here me? – Zadie called his friend, squeezing his shoulder. He dared not shake Tyler, but noticed the flinch of his eyelids and the painful grimace that in a moment contorted the corner of his mouth.

The cacophony on stage was still going on and the mayhem in front of it was getting as wild as in a huge rock show, though there were barely 50 people jumping around, headbanging and moshing. The cozy, somewhat rustic tavern had suddenly turned into an underground club of the worst kind. The dim lights were flickering in unison with the music and the tables seemed to have somehow rearranged closer to each other and to the walls, leaving a wide-open space. There were few other puzzled or displeased looks but somehow the place seemed to have filled mostly with raging in the wild rhythm people who weren't there just a minute or two ago.

- What in the name of the first dragon... - Aaron didn't finish his thought. He and the others closest to him saw the wooden tray still flipping on the floor, the noise lost in the whole tumult. There was a small bloodstain on its edge. For a moment, it seemed that one of the nearest silhouettes in the "mosh pit" stood still and mouthed something like "sorry, bro" but it didn't seem very likely in all this chaos.

However, Aaron noticed just in time the fierce grimace that distorted Chris' features when his bandmate took a step forward and started making a lashing motion with the wand that had appeared in his hand out of nowhere.

- Hey, hey, hey – Aaron almost threw himself forward and grabbed Chris' hand. – Don't! You know what happens if we get in a fight here.

- What happens? – James asked; his face didn't show any particular emotion but his eyes followed carefully the erratic motions of the crowd, wand ready as well.

- We are on school ground, in a way. If these bozos gather just a few people to say that we started it, we can get kicked out of the Band Battle for good.

- Should we try for the exit or kick some butt first? – Jessie looked around targeting the closest potential opponents. – I see some easy to knock over dummies.

- Easy there, sister, you heard the man. Let's try and get out of here as quick as possible before this turns into a massacre – Orianna surprisingly sensibly objected.

- I second that – said Daynen locking eyes with Hermione who nodded as well.

- What the hell happened? – Tyler muttered at the same moment pressing his hand to his forehead. Zadie helped him sit.

- You got hit by a flying tray – the younger boy answered while throwing Ty's hand around his shoulders.

- Wha... what the fuck? Who threw it?! – Tyler made a weak attempt to reach for his wand in the side pocket of his baggy pants. Chris prevented him from pulling it out by putting Tyler's other hand around his own shoulders – though he had to bend a bit since the bassist was around 10 centimeters shorter than he was. They helped Tyler stand on his feet and supported his weight.

- We'll worry about that later. You may have a concussion or something so let's get you somewhere quiet and take care of that.

- Man, you're lucky I'm seeing two of you and I'm not sure which one to hit – Ty muttered, still holding his head. – Get me out of this shithole...

They tried to reach the exit as quickly and carefully as possible through the mass of bodies, with the others following their example and trying to watch their backs. Two-thirds of the way however, someone's elbow hit Chris hard below the shoulder blades. At the same moment, someone else's long heavy braid decorated with what seemed like ceramic beads whipped Aaron across the face as the said person was headbanging heavily, doing something known as "The Windmill" among muggle heavy music lovers, and "The Whomping Willow Wrath" among the same type of music lovers in the wizarding world. Two more steps and Zadie stumbled over a tipped over chair and barely managed to keep his balance, while someone's leg in heavy leather boot kicked Chris in the shin. The singer snarled something like "Hold him" and carefully shifted Tyler's weight to Zadie, then quickly turned around, wand already in his hand, eyes piercing through the crowd looking for the source of the sudden attack.